BACCHUS AND SILENUS

BY JOHN DUNCAN

A Bacchanalian procession led outdoors by Bacchus and Maenads who are walking towards the left side of the image. Bacchus, the androgynous Roman god of fertility, agriculture, and wine, is leading the group and is nude except for a tiger skin wrapped around his waist. In his right hand he holds a Thyrsus, a wand or stick topped with a pine cone and decorative ornaments. To his immediate left is a leopard and two women, one that is nude with a floral crown in her blonde hair and a wind pipe in her hands. The other woman is wearing a patterned robe and holds grape leaves in her hand. On the other side of Bacchus holding the Thyrsus is a woman wearing a shapeless patterned dress with grape leaves in her blonde hair. Just behind them in the procession on the recto is Silenus, the companion and tutor of Bacchus, seated on top of a donkey. The donkey is dressed with a heart patterned cloth for a saddle and roses by the ears. Silenus is wearing a loin cloth made of grape leaves and is holding onto two women, one on either side of the donkey. Surrounding them are two additional women playing instruments, one is a wind pipe and the other is using cymbals. Additionally, there are two Satyrs playing panpipes and windpipes. In the bottom left hand corner there is the engravers mark and in the bottom right hand corner is John Duncan’s monogram.

MLA citation:

Duncan, John. “Bacchus and Silenus.” The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal, vol. 2, Autumn 1895, p. 90-91. Evergreen Digital Edition, edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, 2016-2018. The Yellow Nineties 2.0, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2018. https://1890s.ca/egv2_duncan_bacchus/

magazine_images The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal 2 Almanac Helen Hay Pen and ink Unsigned

1890s Exterior Tree leaves branch fruit haystacks fields
Birds ram scorpion Man archer Scales bow and arrow
Fence bones “Tak Tent” [translation: “Take Care”]
“22nd Sept.” equinox “Oct.” “Nov.” “21st Dec.” solstice